Stamp out evil trade that led to sea horror

TRAGICALLY, it was bound to happen. For years this paper has warned that the constant stream of migrants being allowed to take to the Channel in flimsy boats would lead to catastrophe.

Now more than 30 – including a little girl – have perished after one of these overcrowded craft capsized in freezing seas a mile from the French coast.

Every single death was avoidable. They should weigh on the conscience of the British and French authorities who have failed miserably to break this evil trade.

Boris Johnson is right to furiously accuse France of letting people smuggling gangs ‘get away with murder’.

Britain has handed Paris hundreds of millions to crack down on the racket. Yet French police stand idly by as these human cargoes set sail.

To break this vile business, we have offered to send UK law enforcement officers to patrol beaches around Calais. We have suggested turning back boats mid-crossing.

But by greeting each proposal to tackle the traffickers with an indifferent ‘non’, Emmanuel Macron encourages the criminal gangs. The president is ensuring the Channel becomes a cemetery.

Some 26,000 migrants have made the perilous trip to British beaches so far this year, rather than seek sanctuary in the first safe place they reach.

They know work, housing and benefits are easier to obtain. And, despite the selfflagellation of the liberal Left, we are less racist than perhaps any other country. And the prospect of deportation is negligible.

Labour and the Left wail at any government’s attempts to make Britain a more unattractive destination.

But with a huge majority and public confidence in the immigration system plummeting, ministers should ram through measures to tackle the problem.

Nothing will bring back those who died at sea. But their legacy should be a new determination – on both sides of the Channel – to stamp out the smugglers for good.